I want to give my review of e-coinI'm from canada and found it very appealing to load btc to a debit card and have the ability to withdraw instantly, so I started researching cards.
After all my research, I finally settled on e-coin. I read great reviews about them. Didn't read many reviews from users themselves and mainly reviews from actual professional blog sites and cryptocurrency sites.
A little background about me. I'm a professional miner and cryptocurrency trader. I invest in ICOs mainly as well. I used coinbase often, but wanted a mobile platform such as this e-coin card.
So i go to
www.e-coin.io and here's how the process was
1) I go to their site and the captcha doesn't load properly. I clear my cache, try it again, same issues. captcha just isn't showing up. I download firefox (was using chrome), still the same issue of captcha showing up. So I tried it on my other 6 machines I have, each with different browsers, unfortunately to no avail. I email e-coin support and ask for him, telling them I've tried a total of 12 browsers on 6 machines and it doesn't, with all cache and settings factory too. Can't log in still. They tell me to clear my cache...
2) I try for the entire day, unable to log in, so I finally give up after about 8-10 hours. I try the next day, and login's fine. I google the issue and apparently this issue dates back to 2015 and has never been fixed.
3) I apply for a debit card. There are 2 options: the $17 card which is sent by regular mail and takes 4-8 weeks (so they say) and the $50 card which is sent by registered mail and takes about 3-5 days. I went with the $17 card as I was no rush. I was expecting it in 4-8 weeks, but it comes in 5 business days. This made me very happen, then I realized, why are people paying $50 if it comes in roughly the same time? Makes you wonder...
4) The card comes and I try to activate the card. No problems with activating the card. So I try to request a pin on their site. I keep clicking on "send pin," and I get the email confirmation that the pin has been sent. I wait.. and I wait.. and I want... 2 hours later, no email. So I try again, receiving the same confirmation email. No email. So I try again on my 12 different browsers on 6 PCs, and nothing works. I email support and they tell me to clear my cache again... I gave up by the end of the day. I try again the next morning, and voila, it works great. I get the pin, super excited to use it.
5) I click on "generate address" so I can get my address and deposit BTC. I click on "generate address" again... and again... and again.... no address shows up. Fuck I'm thinking to myself. I try on 12 browsers over 6 PCs again and just said fuck it. I'll try tomorrow. So I do that and great, my address finally generates and I get to send myself BTC. I send BTC to that address from Poloniex.
6) Poloniex immediately sent it and 2/2 confirms after about 30 minutes. Great I'm thinking. I go to e-coin, waiting eagerly to see my balance. I don't see anything... 32 confirms and about 16 hours later, I finally see my BTC balance showing.
7) I transfered the BTC balance to my card without issue.
I went to the store, bought a few things. Worked without issue. Withdrew cash from an ATM, costing $4.45 each time I withdraw. reasonable fee if you're withdrawing large amounts.
9) I finish the test shop and realized that I still have some BTC left that I didn't convert to dollars on the debit card. So I transfer my remaining BTC to Poloniex. I created an address and surely enough, no addresses can be selected to send. The field is just empty, no drop down menu to select address. I gave up that day, and tried again the next day and it worked fine.
Now today, I've been waiting about 12 hours now to see my BTC balance and the textid on block explorer says 42 confirmations now. I deposited 0.25 (About $100) 12 hours ago and have yet to see my BTC balance on the e-coin card. This is a very normal occurrence. You have to plan very far in advance if you want to deposit and use any funds. It always works, but the process is very long and their site is full of bugs. I have to plan out about 3-4 days in advance just to use the card.
I constantly find issues on their site such as captcha not loading properly, balances not updating properly, extremely long deposit times. The support team is even worse. They aren't helpful, are patronizing, and never apologize for any of their issues.
I honestly don't recommend e-coin to anyone. I've used their services for 1 month now and find it the most painful process.
